Oil-distilling apparatus



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Patented Nov. 22, 1921.

. M BSGM m. v N 1| T. J. RYAN.

OIL DISTILLING APPARATUS. APPLICATION F'ILEDJU'LY 21. 192.1.

LLM/IN.` OIL DISTILLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21,1921.

Patented Nov. 22, 192.1.

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.m SMWN lllllllllllllllllllllllllll 'r1lf111/1ll1111/111111[lll/111111111111111 T. L RYAN. OIL DISTILLI'NG APPARATUS.

I APPLICATION FILED JULY 2l. 14921.` I 1,397,984. Patented NOV. 22,1921.

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Thoma/,s ,JI Ryan UNIT y PATENT 4ori-ues.'

THOMAS J'. OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA.

' OIL-DISTILLIN'G APPARATUS.

To all fui hom t may conce-rn.' i

Be it known'that l, THOMAS J. RYAN, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Tulsa, in the county of Tulsa'and State of v Oklahoma, have invented new and useful l:improvements in Oil-DistillingApparatus of which the following is a'specification.

This invention relates to oil distilling apparatus.

The most common way of distilling crude Vpetroleum oil, for the production of gasolene,` is by what is known as `the cracking process. According to this process, the hot petroleum oil coming from the shell stills is recharged into-pipe stills, under a pressure of from to 100 pounds and at very high. temperatures, sometimes as high as 800. In these pipe stills the oil is cracked` maybe treated practically without pressure, p

and at a very low temperature, whereby the gasolene vapors may be liberated without heating the oilto cracking temperature, and therebyl enabling a product of proper color to be directly obtained without further treatment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a distilling apparatus embodying two distilling units, ione operating to treat crude oil from a source of supply for the liberation of'a 'certain proportion of its gasolene con-.

tent, and the other operating to treat the product from the first 'unit for the liberation of the remainderof. the available gaso- ,lene content, wherebyrhigh quality'- gasolene of proper colorvfor the market may be easily, quickly and inexpensively produced. The invention consists of the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Y Figure l .'s a diagrammatic plan view of an oil distilling apparatus embodying my invention.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the stills. v

F ig. 3 is a rear end elevation thereof.

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section through the still.

F ig. 5 is a vertical transverse section thereof taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic sectional view of portions of one of the distilling units of the apparatus. .Y

In carrying my invention into practice I provide a distilling apparatus comprising duplicate primary and secondary distilling units A and B, which are substantially alike in character, didering only in the details hereinafter described. Each of these units comprises a pipe still l, heated in any suitable manner, and having a heating chamber in which is arranged a pipe coil 2, suitably arranged within said chamber and having the inlet and outlet ends 3 and 4. The inlet end 3 of the coil 2 of the pipe still l of unit A is connected with a crude oil supply pipe 5 leading from a suitable storage tank or reservoir (notshown). In this pipe 5 may be arranged a charging pump 6 for forcing the oil under a desired low pressure through the still. The outlet end 4 of the coil 2 of each pipe still is connected with a conducting pipe 7 leading therefrom to an expansion tower or tank 8. Tn each pipe 7 is placed a suitable type of recording temperature gage bulb 9. whereby the stillmen may' readily see at all times the temperature of the heated oil passing from the stills to the eXpension tanks. The crude oil passing through the primary still l of unit A is heated to a' maximum temperature not greater than 300- F., while the oil heated in the secondary still of unit B is heated to a maximum temperature not exceeding 400O F. f

Each expension tower or tank 8- is of suitv Patented Nov. 22, 1921. Application lfiled J'u1y421, 1921. Serial No. 486,359. l

able dimensions and is designed to receive v the heated oil from its still. The pipe 7 through which this heated oil passes enters through the side of the tank S near its lower end and terminates in an upwardly eX- tending discharge portion or nozzle 10. This nozzle 10 has its upper end terminating a considerable distance below the center of the tank, and ordinarily extends about four feet above the bottom of the tank, or a distance approximately one-third the height of the tank or somewhat less. It will be ob- A space) of the tank is otherwise void ofA served that Vthe interior (i. e., expansion baffles or other obstructions, such space being free and clear and normally without pressure exceeding normal atmospheric pressure. The heated oil fiows through the pipe 7 into the'tank'S without any pressure except the head pressure at the level where it discharges into the towerwhich ordina? rily is at a fifteen foot elevation, and equals substantially seven and a half pounds pressure on the discharge line from the pump. The heated oil flowing through the outlet 10 passes into the unrestricted comparatively large expansion space of the expansion tower, which '-is unhe'ated otherwise than by the heat of the products 'passing into and through it, and the oil is thereby instantly relieved ofall pressure,`whereupon there is yan immediate evaporationof the lighter constituents, the vapor vdischarging `through a vapor pipe 11 leadingv from vthe top of the tower, while the heavier products or unvaporized oil falls back into the bottom of thev tower, as indicated at 12 and Hows by gravity out/,through a pipe 13. A suit-V able gage v14` is provided upon the tower for indicating theY level ofthe trapped body of unvaporizedoil therein. Y.Connected with the pipe 11', or otherwise communicating with the tower 8, is an automatic safety vent valve 15 and a hand operated'vent valve 16. The valve 15 is provided to allowescape of any possible over pressure which may at any time possibly exist in the tower, while the valve 16 is provided to enable any ex-v cess pressure to be manuallyl exhausted or the pressure to be manually controlled `as occasion may require. y

The vapor separated from the oil in each tower 8 and discharging through the pipe 11 `passes into the base of a dephle ator or separating chamber 17, comprising a tower or tank having a vapor outlet at its upper` end communicating with a .vapor discharge pipe 18. In' this dephlegmator is mum( pmi n ri C U mator of unit A is cooled and condensed in the associated condenser, while lthe vapor discharging from the dephlegmator of 'unit B Vis similarly condensed in its associated condenser, and the products in the form of gasolene pass outwardl from said condenser-s through. pipes 25 and 26 to a receiving house. Y

27,' in which :they may be inspected and thence to a receiving .or stora tank 28 in which the twocolumns of gaso ene of diderent specific gravities are commin'led and from which they ma be discharge thro h a pipe 29 through t e action of a pump 0 to any suitablepoint for storage or use. It will be understood' that as theA oil from the still 1 of unit A ispheatedat a very 10W temperature, the hot vapors may freely rise therefrom in the associated expansion tower 8 without contact with any bailes or other surfaces` liable to contaminate or discolor the vapors before they go to the condenser coil,

the vapors being cooled suiciently before provided in order that the remainder of the gasol'ene content may be similarly extracted at a low temperature, without any cracking action, and without any I discoloration or contamination of the product. To this end theoutlet pipe 13 from the initialv expansion tower8 is connected with a pipe 5', having arranged therein a pump 31, Vwhereby the portion of the "oil treatedV by the 'rst still and dischargedthrough the outlet 13'of the vexpansion tank` of the' first unit'will be supplied to the still of the second unit- "and treated on its passage through 'said unit inV the manner previously described for the n r i l grade products combined, and a resultant product obtained which is of mean specific gravity sufficiently high to meet all good grade conditions and at the same time of water white or substantially of water white color, thus avoiding the'necessity of subsequent treatment to remove discoloration. By actual test in the operation of a commercial apparatus embodying my invention, I find that T can take off 30% of gasolene from crude oil of 34.6 Baume gravity, which gasolene is finishedstock requiring no acid or `caustic soda treatment and 'no steam stilling whatever, whereby the finished stock may be pumped directly from the apparatus into tank cars without the time, cost and labor required in the treatment of gasolene produced by cracking processes necessary for putting the gasolene into condition for commercial use. Also as the temperatures and pressures employed are not high enough to fractionate any of the distillates, or to fractionate any sulfur content in the crude oil, water white and rigid-test odor-sweet gasolene may be directly produced, without chemical refining, from crude oil containing a high percentage of sulfur.

, The unvapori'zed oil discharged through the pipes 2O from the dephlegmatcrs may, if desired, be conducted'to the pipe 5, so as to be pumped with the crude petroleum into the primary still or unit A for retreatment. The residuum deposited in the bottom of the expansion tower 8 of unit B discharges by gravity through a pipe 32 into a cooler, where it is suitably cooled prior to its final discharge. This cooler may comprise a coil 33 submerged in a body of cooling water in the tank 34, and said coil 33 vmay be connected with a pipe 35 containing a pump 3G for forcing the residuum into a receiving tank .37. This residuum is available for use as fuel or fo-r other purposes and' may be discharged from the tank 37 by means of a pump 38 through a pipe 89 tof any point for further storage or use.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim n l. In an oil distilling apparatus, the combination of a pair of stills, a crude oil supply pipe connected with the inlet of one still,

a pair of expansion tanks, one for each still, pipes leading from the outlets of the respective stills to the respective expansion tanks, a pipe for conducting the unvolatilized oil from the expansion tank associated with the first-named still to the-inlet of the second still, vapor outlet pipes leading from the eX- pansion tanks, condensers connected with said vapor outlet pipes, dephlegmators located in said pipes between the expansion tanks and the condensers, and means for conveying the oil separated from the vapors in the dephlegmators and conveying the same to the inlet of the first Still for retreatment.

2. In an oil distilling apparatus, the combination of a pair of separate and independent primary and secondary stills, said primary still operating to heat the crude oil to a temperaturev below cracking temperature, and said secondary still operating to heat the unvolatilized oil from the primary still at a temperature also below cracking temperature but at a temperature above that at which the oil is heated by the primary still, an expansion tower for receiving the heated oil from each still and separating the vapor therefrom, each expansion tower' being separate from its still and khaving a hot oil inlet extending into the bottom thereof and terminating below its horizontal center, said tower being provided with an expansion chamber normally of atmospheric pressure and temperature, a pump for forcing the oil through each still and into the associated expansion tower at a low forcing pressure, the inlet of the tower being located at such a level that the head upon the column of oil flowing thereto will be substantially equal to the forcing pressure,AV condensers for receiving and condensing the vapors from thel expansion chambers, a conductor for conveying the unvolatilized oil from the first l expansion chamber to the inlet of the secondary still, and a dephlegmator arrangeddirectly in the line of flow of the vapor between each expansion tower and the associated condenser.

In testimony whereof I afX my signature.

THOMAS J. RYAN. 

